Stand photography: what to shoot

1–10 days

build days; the empty shoot happens on the final morning

Stand types

8 stand types

a separate list of angles is kept for each type

Stand types

The right hour, an empty aisle

There is only one right time for the empty shoot: the hour before doors open on the first morning. The stand has been cleaned, the lighting is on, the neighbours have finished too, and the aisle is clear. Shooting on build night is tempting, but material, ladders and packaging stay in the background.

Prepare the stand before the shoot. Tidy cables, remove the bin, align the brochures, switch the screens on and check they show the right content. What catches the eye in a photograph is usually not a thing but a mess.

Lighting matters most at this hour. If the hall lighting and the stand lighting run at different colour temperatures, the photograph carries yellow and blue patches. Why lighting is built in three layers is covered on the design side.

Half an hour is not enough for the shoot. The photographer walks the stand once, chooses the angles and then shoots; frames grabbed in a hurry usually look at the stand from its weakest side.

The shot list

Without a list, a shoot produces twenty similar frames. The minimum list is: a general view from the aisle, a perspective from the opposite corner, the interior from the entry point, the meeting area, a close-up of the product display, the counter and logo, the graphic wall straight on, and a ceiling or lighting detail.

Close-ups are usually the most reused frames. A corner joint, a material texture, a lit shelf, the inside of a case. Those images tell the next client about workmanship, which a general view cannot.

In the busy shoot, faces should either be indistinct or cleared with permission. Frames where visitors appear from behind, in motion or slightly blurred are both easier to use and make the crowd look natural. Team members give explicit consent.

Product shots belong on the list as well. A fair is one of the few moments when the product is seen at true scale under proper lighting, and catalogue frames can be taken there without building a studio.

Use, permission and archive

Most venues require notification or permission for professional photography intended for commercial use. The rule usually sits in the technical manual and covers accreditation for a photographer working during build-up. Finding this out in show week is too late.

Neighbouring stands are the second issue. Another company’s logo at the edge of the frame makes that image awkward to use in publicity. If the angle does not solve it, retouching will be needed later.

The archive is the third issue and the most neglected. Name files by fair, year, city and project, and keep raw and edited versions in separate folders. The image that goes into a proposal two years from now comes out of that archive. We keep our own projects in exactly this order.

Finally, write the caption for each image: company, fair, year, hall. It makes the archive searchable, and when the picture eventually goes on a website the alternative text is already written.

Do we need a professional photographer?

For frames you will use as references, yes. Halls have mixed light and tight angles, and a phone shot usually makes the stand look smaller than it is.

Should we shoot video as well?

A short walk-through is worth it and shows the stand in a way stills cannot. A long promotional film rarely comes out well during show week.